ויקראו ספרי המלך בעת ההיא בחדש השלישי הוא חדש סיון בשלושה ועשרים בו
“So, the king’s scribe were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, that is, the month of Sivan.” (Esther 8:9)
The events described at the beginning of the eighth perek of the Megillah took place on the 13th of Nissan. The letters that were sent out to rescind the original decree to destroy the Yidden were not dispatched until the 23rd of Sivan. They had to wait over two months with the threat of annihilation still hovering over their heads. One reason for the delay is explained by the Yosef Lekach. He says that Mordechai was waiting for Haman’s original couriers to return to Shushan. He felt it was essential to use the same messengers as this would add legitimacy to the contents of the second letters despite their apparent contradiction to the intent of the original royal decree sent by Haman.
Another pshat can be found in the Medrash Rabbah (Bereishis 100:6) at the end of Parshas Vayechi.
אותן שבעים יום שבין אגרת לאגרת כנגד שבעים יום שעשו מצרים חסד עם אבינו יעקב - “The seventy days that Klal Yisroel had to wait before the sending out of the second letter, was because of the chesed that the Egyptians did with Yaakov Avinu”.
The Torah records that the Egyptians showed tremendous respect in observing a seventy-day period of mourning when Yaakov Avinu died. In contrast, the Yidden at the time of the Purim story failed to show appropriate honor to Mordechai HaTzaddik as they failed to heed his warnings not to attend the king’s feast. As a result, they were punished by having to continue to live in fear of their lives for a further seventy days until the second letters were sent out.
The meforshim point out that the expression: אבל כבד למצרים – “A heavy mourning for the Egyptians” which is used by Yaakov’s death is paralleled with the phrase: אבל גדול ליהודים - “A heavy mourning for the Yidden” which we find in the Megillah.
(R’ Chaim Kaufman related that he said the following pshat in the above Medrash in the presence of Rav Leib Gurwicz who very much enjoyed this vort.)
